Teenagers viewed porn on cellphones - police

A police crowd-control team had to be called to Barolong High School
after pupils scratched the principal's car and threw stones at police
vans, North West police said on Thursday.

The pupils were apparently unhappy about police arriving at their school
in the morning to help teachers confiscate the cellphones they had been
using to watch pornographic videos, Lieutenant Colonel Lesego Metsi
said.

"After confiscating the cellphones and writing down the names of pupils
involved, the police left the school premises. Just as they were
leaving, the pupils became rowdy, scratched the principal's car and
threw stones at police vans."

Metsi said the officers called members of the crowd-control unit to help
contain the situation, which they did without difficulty.

"No one was arrested during the incident," he said.

The principal wrote letters to parents earlier this year to inform them
cellphones were not allowed at school. He intended calling the parents
of pupils involved to tell them what had happened.

"The intention was to let them know that their children were violating
school policies... watching pornographic videos and disrupting classes,"
Metsi said.

The cellphones would be handed back to the parents once the principal
had spoken to them individually.